Not So Simple
by aimenight
Summary: Madelyn had come to Beacon Hills to find a life, to be near the only people she knew... to find somewhere she could feel safe. But once a stranger tumbles into her life that line between what feels safe and what actually is safe is irrevocably changed. T for now.
1. Chapter 1: Ghosts 'N' Stuff

**Sorry about editing. Loved this show forever, just thought of this idea. Sorry if the editing isn't great, I'll do my best. Please let me know what you think.**

Chapter One – Ghosts 'N' Stuff

"… I only had a taste but we're out of time

We have sold in the cold

Physical design

Set me free

Set me out on the run…"

– Deadmau5 ft. Rob Swire

* * *

'Oh my gosh!' Maddy leaned down to get a better look inside of her gym bag. 'No, no, no, no…'

She wanted to cry "Where is it?" the 23 year old, raked her hands through her long dark brown hair. She shut her light brown eyes trying to remember where she had put her mother's handkerchief. Usually she kept it in a safe place, stored away in a sock drawer or under her pillow, but today was her first day on the job and she had needed it for the exact same reason she had needed to move to Beacon Hills in the first place… she had needed something familiar to hold on to.

"Lose something?"

Maddy almost jumped out of her skin. She turned her head to an olive skinned woman, dressed in her scrubs. They were in the Beacon Hills Hospital change room, shift change had happened about thirty minutes earlier, which that meant all of the other nurses who had been on Maddy's shift had left about twenty-nine minutes ago, while she had been changing.

"Sorry." The woman apologized with sincerity. "We haven't met yet" she smiled kindly, stepping forward and extending her hand "I'm Melissa McCall, I work in the E. R. You're the new prenatal nurse Madelyn Bow, right?"

Maddy could hear her father's voice sound in her head 'You're getting rusty there kid.'

Swallowing thickly as she caught her breath, Maddy stood up straight and faced the woman properly.

Nodding, she shook Melissa's hand, "Yeah, but most people call me Maddy, um… how'd you know it's my first day? I mean it's nice of you and everything but our departments are different."

"It's written on the board." The older woman gestured over her shoulder to a corkscrew notice board that clearly hadn't been cleaned off in a while and was half hidden by the poor lighting in the room.

"I didn't mean to scare you." The kind woman took her hand back and drew Maddy's attention.

"No, it's me… ah… I was a little on edge, 'cause… um, you guessed it right, I did lose something." Maddy resisted the urge to pick at her nails or look away.

'Breathe' she heard her father's voice again.

"Something important…" Maddy added in a soft voice.

"What was it? Maybe we can… " the woman's large brown eyes widened in realization "Oh! Wait! Was it this?" Melissa dug around in her pockets, pulling out the handkerchief that Maddy had been so desperately searching for.

"Yes!" Maddy exclaimed, utter relief filling her as she took the finely embroidered cloth back.

"It's beautiful." The older nurse observed.

With a grateful nod, Maddy asked "Where'd you find it?"

"In the eastside stairwell when I needed a phone break." The woman smiled warmly.

"I was there earlier… I needed, uh, a break too."

'A break to have a mild panic attack…'

"Thank you so much." Maddy crouched down to secure the handkerchief in her purse "It was probably stupid for me to carry it around, but…"

"It reminded you of someone. I get it." Melissa stated with an understanding that Maddy couldn't question.

"Yeah" the young girl breathed, blowing some stray hairs out of her face, as she picked up her gym bag and purse and moved to stand up. "Thanks again" she smiled at Melissa once she was at eye level, her light brown gaze flicked to a clock on the wall of the room before returning to the friendly woman "I'd better get going."

Melissa looked over Maddy's appearance for a moment "You headed for a workout?"

"Um, sort of…" Madelyn bit her bottom lip, looking down at her attire. Her long black winter coat was still open and the grey tights and black leotard she was wearing were visible.

'Certainly not by my dad's standards.'

"I do ballet."

"Oh, I thought ballerinas were…" The older woman cut herself off, realizing that what she had been about to say wasn't very tactful "Sorry" she shook her head at Maddy. "I just meant..."

"Don't worry. It's nothing that I haven't heard before." Maddy smiled as genuinely as she could. But she would have been lying if she said it hadn't stung.

She was 5' 5'' which would not have been bad if she didn't have the curves she had. When she had hit puberty Maddy had prayed to grow in the same way her friends from ballet class were growing, but instead of having a flat line for a waist, hers pinched in then flared out into hips, instead of a flat chest she grew to an average cup size and instead of small, pert bottom she had more rounding to her frame. It had been the worst, still she had tried and worked as hard as she could to really make something out of her dream. But nothing ever came from it.

Even though he hadn't considered it a truly physical enterprise her father had signed her up for class when she was two, he had said that he wanted to do the right 'girly' things for her, especially since her mother had died a few months after Maddy had been born. He had always done odd, guilt ridden things like that. Like he was trying to make up for the fact that Maddy didn't have a mother figure in her life, but he also seemed to be making up for the fact that he was constantly pushing Maddy to be knowledgeable and get stronger by his own unique criteria.

'The world is a dangerous place.' He would grit out whenever she complained, and almost immediately she would back down. Though he never discussed it she could tell that there was more to the way her mother had passed away than he was telling her.

Passed away… passed away made it sound so peaceful. Really her mother had been killed in a hit and run but that was only as far as Maddy could ever figure. Her father would never go any further than that. Even years later, it was so painful for him that eventually Maddy stopped bring it up at all.

There was always a kind of sadness that hung on him, but he was always so happy whenever he saw her dance, so she stuck with it and when he had been ripped out of her life nine years ago, she clung to ballet like nothing else… even if it couldn't lead anywhere.

"It's just something that I like doing by myself." She shrugged at the woman, hoping that her nonchalance was coming across "I found a studio space that's decent."

'Barely decent,' the voice in her head scoffed 'and barely affordable, the fee plus having to lock and sweep up.'

"That's so nice, to have an outlet like that. I always wanted to learn…" Melissa was cut off by a page over the P. A. system

"Ah, I guess we'd both better go." Maddy gave her a friendly smile again. "Thank you again. It was nice meeting you." She stated as they left the locker room together.

"No problem at all. It was good to meet you too" the older woman replied, as she head down the opposite end of the hall "See you later."

* * *

'So sweeping up took longer than I thought…' Maddy's teeth chattered as she walked down the moonlit alley to where she had parked her red, beat up Honda behind the studio.

She was definitely glad that she had changed at work, something about being nude in a grimy building, in a not-so nice neighbourhood creeped her out.

Shivering, she pulled the collar of her coat tighter around her neck, while clasping her mother's handkerchief tightly in her free hand. She had taken it out when she had seen that most of the streetlamps were burned out and the roads nearby looked abandoned.

'What was that?' She stopped for a second, a few feet from her car. There had been a sound like stomping, almost like someone was jumping from place to place and getting closer 'except…' Maddy craned her head back to look up at the tall buildings on either side of her 'how could it be coming from…' there was a loud crash that brought her focus back down to the corner of the building to her left. She could see some trash cans rolling from around the corner of the brick building, before she heard a groan.

Paralysed, Maddy stood stalk still trying to think of what she should do. 'Call 911 dumbass.' But for some reason her body wouldn't react.

She nearly shrieked when she saw a hand suddenly grip low on the side of the brick building, in the silvery moon light she could make out something dark that could only be blood dripping from the fingers.

It didn't take long after that for the panic to set in. Without really thinking, Maddy dropped her gym bag and purse on the cracked pavement and raced to the edge of the building.

"Oh god." She gasped.

There was a man with short jet black leaning back against the wall, moaning as he tried to brace himself on the building to stand up.

"Stop, stop, stop" Maddy pushed him back down, her mind racing. "You have to sit still…" she instructed, wishing that she had left her hair tied up after her practice as she shoved it out of her face.

Luckily there were a couple of back door lights in this alley so she could see him. Well, parts of him anyway. Maddy bit her lips, she couldn't really focus, she hadn't worked in an E. R. in years. Her eyes were darting everywhere as she rapidly made note of any physical signals his body might be giving. 'Sweating, but clammy skin, pale, shivering… he's in shock. Ok, Maddy think, what do you do with patients in shock?' She blinked blindly in horror as her frenzied mind drew a blank.

Nothing. She tried again 'Ok. Breathe. Breathe. He's just fallen off a building, so… he could have a concussion.'

"Follow my finger" she held his eyes open.

"I don't need your help." He addressed her for the first time in a sort of growl.

Ignoring his comment she watched his pupils as they followed her finger, in spite of his assertion.

'Reactive. Good, no brain damage. I think. Looks like he can move his neck without pain, plus that angry look means he's conscience of the fact there's a girl practically kneeing him in the groin in an attempt to make him stay on the ground. Also good.' Maddy felt a bit relieved, before she remembered she'd seen blood on his hand.

Grabbing his left arm and prying away the hand he was using to cover the wound, Maddy gasped at what she saw under his rolled up sleeve.

"You're shot."

"Nice detective work." He scornfully ground out.

The blood was drying and dark on his pale forearm, Maddy knew she was out of her depth "Ok. I'm calling 91.."

"No." He pushed her hands away.

"In case you didn't hear me. I said you've been… been" Maddy had raised her light brown eyes with the intention of berating this stubborn guy, but her tongue went numb when she looked at him properly. He was frightening, his eyes were grey chips of metal, his jaw was a straight line and his scowl was so mean it was virtually cruel.

Words escaped her and something about him made her doubt that they would even have worked on him anyway. Forgetting that she was still holding her mother's handkerchief Maddy pressed the hand that she was holding it in against the wound.

"AHHH!" he shouted. Shoving her whole body away this time.

"… shot." She finally finished her sentence, even though she had landed sprawled out on her rear-end in front of this murderous looking guy, a part of her felt had some sense of triumph when he had howled out in pain. "See?" she puffed out a breath, pushing herself onto her knees again she scurried forward, as the man protectively drew back his arm.

She halted for a split second, her expression softening when she saw his fearful reaction to her "I promise I won't call 911. I'm a registered nurse, I just wanna make sure it you'll be ok. Ok?"

Slowly he held out his arm, "It's not healing." He stated, shaking his head as though he was trying to clear his vision.

Maddy stared at him, confusion clear on her face "That's because it's a gunshot wound."

"Just look" he bit out with a hiss.

"Fine." She grasped his arm, noting that it was considerably warmer than the rest of him. She leaned forward with a frown. 'The dark lines, the heat…' it looked as though it was already "infected…" she mumbled, so low she was sure that she had barely made a sound.

But to her surprise she heard his voice above her head repeat, "Infected?" he was watching her so close his breath made some of her hair flutter.

Quickly she lifted her head. She could see the sweat beading on his forehead, the ragged breaths that his mouth was taking in, the flecks of green in his eyes. He didn't look scary anymore, just anxious.

'He's so close that's probably how he heard.' Maddy reasoned to herself, as she asked him "When were you shot?"

"About ten minutes ago." He replied distractedly.

"Ten minutes?" her brow furrowed in disbelief, before she looked down at the wound again. 'There's no way it would fester so soo…' her eyes widened though, as her light brown gaze took in the sight of his arm. In a matter of seconds the infection had already crept further up his arm.

"What the…?"

"I've gotta go." He grumbled breathlessly while he forced her away again. Landing on her backside once more, Maddy watched somewhat impressed as the guy dragged himself up.

He struggled to take a step forward, the hand on his uninjured arm curled in a fist against the wall for support, his eyes squeezed shut.

'Snap out of it.' Her father's voice woke her out of her daze.

She jumped into action.

"Hey!" Maddy stood, shakily catching him under the arm when he tried to take another wobbly step. "Where do you thinking you're going? You need a doctor."

"No doctors." He snarled, opening his hard eyes, almost causing Maddy to take back her hand in fear.

'Did they just change colour?' She asked herself, before pushing the silly thought from her head.

"Look I get that you have a death wish, jumping on roofs and getting shot and whatever, but I don't wanna see anyone die…"

"Then. Leave. Me. Alone."

She released his arm. "I can't just do that either. Listen you can barely walk, how are you gonna get anywhere?" Inhaling deeply through her nose, she could scarcely believe the next words out of her mouth "At least let me give you a ride."

"I can…" He began as he tried to take a few more steps, before stumbling and falling to the ground. Maddy rushed forward, wrapping her arms around his broad shoulders, she tried help him up.

'God he's heavy.'

"Home... Sco... home" he mumbled incoherently as she heaved his large arm over her shoulder and helped him up.

"Whatever you say big guy."

After settling him the passenger side seat of her car, she raced back to the place where she had dropped her bags. She had been so preoccupied with working on how to trick the man now sitting in her car, she hardly noticed that her gym bag was open now.

* * *

"So what do you say about the doctor now buddy?"

"No doctor."

"How about your address?"

"No doctor."

"Fantastic." Maddy exhaled heavily, pushing her head back into her head rest.

'Why don't you just pass out already…' Though she was fairly certain he wasn't concussed, Maddy had to admit a part of her was glad that he was jerking himself awake. Falling asleep with a concussion would not be good… another part was annoyed, if he passed out she could assume consent and take him straight to the E. R.

But as it stood he seemed content with staining blood on her passenger side seat and saying 'No doctor.' If he would say anything else, at least she could try taking him to the hospital, but there was no way anyone would touch him if he carried on saying that phrase. And there was no way she was about to pull a bullet out of a guy, no matter how infected his wound seemed. Outside of a hospital there were too many risks, not only because she wasn't qualified, but he could easily bleed out.

"Dammit" she chewed on her bottom lip, she gave the guy next to her a quick glance. She had been driving around with him for about thirty minutes hoping that he'd either tell her his address or else decide to get some medical attention. But she was so exhausted it wasn't safe for her to behind a wheel anymore and he didn't look to be changing his tune anytime soon.

Finally she had given in and pulled into the parking garage of her apartment complex.

'Don't do this' she had thought on their entire drive to the building, but much to her own annoyance she had made it all the way home despite herself. Something about him was scary for sure but she knew he wasn't gonna hurt her, she didn't know why exactly... it just didn't seem to be in his nature or something...

'Wow, that's nice and cryptic,' the voice in her head chided.

Getting him out of the car, along with all of her stuff was another workout. 'That's more like it' she could practically see her father grinning, as she pressed the elevator button for the nineteenth floor. Though honestly if her father could see her bringing a random, possibly dangerous stranger who had people shooting at him, up to her home he would have probably ripped her head off.

She held her breath as they passed the lobby, it was late on a weekday, but still Maddy continued worrying about running into someone until they had finally gotten in and shut the door to her small one bedroom apartment.

He groaned, though she tried to be gentle when she sat him down on the plushy couch in her cramped, unlit living room.

Maddy had worked up her second sweat for the night. Taking off her coat, she dropped it next to her bags on the beige carpeted floor. 'Ok.' She let out a slow breath. Her light brown eyes made their way to the man who was now lying on the couch, having had fallen over onto his side. 'Great, he passes out after I haul his ass up here.'

Maddy's brows knit together when she flicked on the soft lamp light beside sliding door that led out to her tiny balcony, she inched towards him. The infection had not been spreading at the same rate as she had seen in the alley, but it was still spreading nonetheless.

She could see more sweat forming on his brow, his eyes were squeezed shut "Hey…" she whispered, nearing him "you unconscious yet?"

"No… doctor…" he panted.

'So that's clear then.' She felt deflated as she ran her gaze down his scruffy face. His expression looked so pained, as if on impulse her fingers reached to soothe the lines creasing his forehead.

Her expression grew even more severe, when she did "Jeez, you're burning up."

Maddy's heart started to thud, her breathing grew short, only then did she realize that she was still holding her mother's handkerchief. She had practically embedded it into her palm without even noticing it.

It sunk in as she observed the once glinting patterns that were now dulled with blood. 'You have to move' she acted without really thinking.

Finding some of her old ballet leggings, a face cloth and filling a bowl with cool water she returned to the couch. Hefting him up and lugging his legs up so he was laying back against the armrest, she set about shoving the cushions under his left shoulder and bending his elbow so that the infection would have a harder time crawling up his arm. She tied a makeshift tourniquet just under his elbow, "Ok" she blew the hair out of her face. 'Forgot my hair tie again.'

She thought about grabbing one when he grumbled, pulling her attention back to his face.

"Ok," she swallowed, steadying herself, "If you insist on staying awake, let's just cool you off."

Raising herself to kneel by his head, she dipped the face cloth in the water that she had brought along. Pressing the wringed out cloth against his head, she could immediately feel the tension drain out of him. The lines on his face eased, his breathing calmed, the stiffness in his shoulders slackened.

'Any minute now.' Maddy relaxed a bit, leaning forward against the couch. Any minute he'd fall asleep and once he had given in to his exhaustion she didn't see him waking up to protest treatment. She could call 911 'Any minute now…'

* * *

"Ah!" Maddy woke up in pain. Blinking the sleep from her eyes, she tried to turn her head and remember what had happened. "Ow!" she hissed, rubbing the back of her neck tenderly. The sound of her phone had woken her up, but the confusion and pain were keeping her still.

Catching her bearings, she realized that her face was smushed into one of the seat cushions of her couch. The way she was leaning forward, made her feel as though there should have been a pillow under her head.

Her eyes widened, she sat up straight, ignoring the pain. She remembered it wasn't a pillow that had been there, but chest belonging to a very sickly stranger.

"Hello?" Maddy called out over the sound of her ringing cellphone, standing up with a grunt to look around her apartment "Guy?" she cringed, unsure of what name to call out.

The place was so small there was nowhere for someone that bulky to hide, 'Where is he?' she wondered, finding her phone in her jacket pocket. Recognizing the number she answered "Hey" she greeted, wincing as she continued rubbing her neck and wandering around her apartment.

"Maddy?"

"Who else would be picking up my phone at…" she checked the time on the phone's screen, as she made her way through the bedroom and into the bathroom "7 a.m.?"

"Right" the feminine voice remarked on the other end of the line. "Sorry, I wanted to catch you before…"

"Oh my god." Maddy hadn't been able to control her mouth one she caught sight of her reflection. Turning on the light, she twisted around to get a better look at her hair in the mirror above the sink. It looked as though she'd been through a tornado, it was all bunched up and tangled near the ends and kinked up closer to the roots, like it had been pulled up in a weird direction.

"What?" the concerned voice asked over the phone.

"Nothing, I just… burned my breakfast…" Maddy lied, momentarily forgetting about the stranger, she put the phone on speaker and began searching for an angle to attack her hair from.

"Oh… I can call back later if…"

Sighing at her reflection Maddy decided to deal with it later, leaving the bathroom she kept looking around "No, it's ok. What's up?" She made her way to the front door, taking note of the fact that her house keys were still on her kitchen counter where had left them the night before.

"My Aunt's in town."

"Kay." She frowned, distracted by the fact that the front door still seemed to be locked.

'How?' Maddy checked the lock a couple of times, before turning back to scan her apartment again.

"So, my dad wanted you to come by for dinner."

"Your Aunt hates me, Allie." Maddy said absently, walking past the kitchenette towards the living room. An idea struck her, 'Maybe he wanted the cold' she made her way to the sliding door, her hand gripping the unlocked handle.

"She doesn't hate you, she just…"

"Hates me." Maddy finished the sentence, as she slid balcony door open. Still in her ballet clothes, she shivered as the chilly morning air struck her.

Stepping out she was not met with what she had expected 'Where is he?' she was left facing nothing but two deck chairs and a dying potted plant.

"Just come tonight. Dad really wants to see you… so do I."

"Ah…" Maddy scratched her head in utter bafflement "Ok. You just tell Uncle Chris not to overdo it."

The girl on the phone chuckled "I'll try, but you know how he is."

"That I do…" Maddy muttered, as her mind raced and her eyes kept searching. After hanging up, she still wasn't sure what insane things to think.

Leaning over to look over her balcony, Maddy's confused light brown eyes skimmed down the other balconies below hers, before shifting out towards the line of trees at the border of the apartment complex and then mountains in the distance.

* * *

**Hope you like it so far. Be patient with me. ****Sorry if editing sucks.**

**Let me know what you think :)**


	2. Chapter 2: Setback

**Hi! Just couldn't wait! It's a shorter chapter, but hopefully you enjoy it. Please try to see past any editing stuff, I'll keep doing my best to avoid them.**

**Thanks on we go!**

Chapter Two – Setback

"…Got different neighborhoods

And different rules to abide by

Stay on the sidelines

If you want to slide by…"

– The Constellations

* * *

'No sign of crazy guy anywhere.' Maddy had spent the past couple of hours driving around a town she barely knew, looking for a guy she didn't know at all. She gone to the hospital that day, under the pretense of grabbing something from her locker, but really checking to see if any GSWs had come in since her last shift.

Considering how determined he had been last night she was pretty sure he wouldn't have gone on his own, but if he was unconscious somewhere she had hoped someone might have brought him in.

She got why he wouldn't want to go to the E. R. with a bullet wound, the police would have to question him, but really she didn't care. It annoyed her, there was such a simple solution, he didn't have to lose his arm. Who cared if he was questioned by the cops?

'Apparently he does.' Maddy bitterly thought to herself.

Once she had gotten up from her uncomfortable sleep that morning she had tried to make herself not care about him. She made herself shower, but it ended up being the fasted one of her life, she could not get him out of her mind. Lying in an alleyway, possibly dying and this time with no one to help him.

With her hair clean, but still wet she threw on some clothes and left to see if she could find him '… find him to kill him myself.'

"Where do dark, brooding types go?" she asked herself aloud, tapping her fingers on her steering wheel. Licking her lips, she raked her brain, looking out her windshield for ideas. She was about ready to give up, but something about that felt so wrong to her. She couldn't just do that to someone, even if they were a stranger. But she was running out of options it was getting late now, the sun was about to set and she had to get to dinner soon.

Then, as if the universe could tell she was getting desperate, Maddy looked up to see through the passenger side window of the blue jeep waiting next to her at the red light.

She gasped, there he was, his forehead leaning against the glass he looked even paler then the night before. Trying to think of what to do to get his attention, she rolled down her window to shout, but before she could say anything, his eyes flicked up to look at her.

Maddy felt her ability to use word disappear again. It look her a second to grasp that the jeep was moving, but when she did she made note of the very nervous looking boy driving the car.

"Not again…" she muttered, before following the jeep. She wondered if she should be chasing them. If the guy had been into something dangerous, wouldn't that mean his acquaintances were dangerous too? But as she pictured the nervous, Maddy had a hard time imagining him being a threat.

She trailed them, she swore that just as they were about to turn into the parking lot of a veterinarian's office, when suddenly they swerved into traffic and sped off.

Maddy followed them, for long as she could, but lost them as the streets filled with 5 o'clock traffic.

**Where are you? ** She had gotten a few texts from Allie and phone calls from Uncle Chris.

Maddy was about to respond to the texts and let go of her chase after the guys in the jeep. She clicked her tongue against her teeth and began heading in the direction of Allie's home, pulling out her phone to call on the way.

But her father's voice suddenly stopped her. All of those hunting trips, of those lessons flooded her mind 'When they lead you away, it means their leading you away for a reason… stumbling across their shelter make them panic. But they're not like humans Maddy, even if they think it's worked animals won't go back.'

A car honked behind her, startling her, as she retraced her journey and pulled into the vet's empty parking lot. Stopping by the front entrance, she briefly thought of where else they could have parked. Getting out she saw that the offices were closed, she made her way to the back of the building, and was rewarded with the sight of the easily distinguishable blue jeep.

As she approached the car, a bar of thin yellow light caught her eye. It was coming from a door that hadn't been closed properly, or what was more likely, had been recently forced open.

Holding her breath, she wrapped her fingers around the edge of the door, and slowly pulled it open with a creak.

Tentatively she entered the building, making her way down a long hall, she heard the sound of two voices. One was high and panicked, other was low and gruff.

"… or I'll cut off your head." She recognized the low voice as the man from last night.

"I'm so not buying your threats anymore…" there was the sound of a slam that caused her to stop just outside the doors leading to the room that the guys were in "Whoa! Ok! Yeah, yeah, I'll do it."

The sound of breathing coming from the room was so heavy that even out in the hall Maddy could hear it. However, all at once the sound was interrupted by the noise of a sudden splatter. Given the way the splash sounded as it hit the ground Maddy could guess that it was probably something that she had grown very accustomed to seeing and smelling while working in a hospital.

"Oh my god, what the hell is that?" the high pitched voice asked.

Maddy frowned 'Vomit looks like vomit… what else could he have thrown up?' she blanched. 'If he's throwing up blood this isn't good at all.' She was about to step in but the man's next comment stumped her so much, she stopped mid-step.

"My body's trying to heal itself… you've gotta do it now…"

"Ok, I'll do it. I'll do it!"

'Do what?' Maddy finally came out of her hiding spot and rounded the doorway. She saw that the injured man had taken off his shirt and she could see the infection had reached up to his bicep, apparently her leggings hadn't worked as well as she had hoped. He had tied off the infection with a real tourniquet, but she could tell it was too tight and close to the infected area, he was laying his upper body on a surgery table where the nervous boy was holding a…

"Christ! Stop!" She ran in grabbing the boy's trembling arm and wrenching the saw out the boy's slippery hand.

The man growled at her, rage in his greyish eyes "You don't know what you're doing!"

"And you do?" she asked aghast, waving the electrical bone saw at him. She took in his sickly appearance, her eyes fixing on his mouth "Is that blac…"

"STILES!" a new voice shouted from the back door. Suddenly another lanky boy appeared, he looked between the three of them, obviously puzzled at the scene.

"Did you get it?" The infected man asked, his breathing was more laboured now.

"Ah, yeah" the tan skinned boy looked shiftily at Maddy, before producing a bullet out of the pocket of his jeans.

"What are you gonna do with it?" the boy still standing next to a confounded Maddy, asked the man when he took the bullet.

"I'm gonna… I'm gonna…" she could see the man wavering, the light was beginning to go out in his eyes.

The bone saw fell with a clatter out of her hand, as she moved even before he had dropped the bullet to the ground. She tried fairly unsuccessfully to break his fall. The wind was out knocked out of her, she had tumbled to the floor under his weight.

"Oh god."

As her vision cleared she could see the tan one had run to the corner of the room and other boy was kneeling over her and the man passed out on top of her right arm. "Derek!" the boy began slapping the man's face. "Come on, Derek wake up! Scott what the hell are we gonna do?"

Struggling to free her arm, she tried to speak but ended up coughing instead.

"I don't know" the boy called Scott, shouted out in a strained voice. "I can't reach it."

"He's not waking up. I think he's dying. I think he's dead." The nervous boy's distressed fear had overtaken his voice.

Finally pulling her arm out from under the man she now knew as Derek, Maddy shoved the terrified boy away.

"Derek?" she questioned, quickly checking his vitals. He was pale and clammy, she leaned her ear over his mouth and nose, she couldn't hear anything and she could see that his chest wasn't moving. "Call 911" she instructed the boy cowering close by, before tilting Derek's head back and starting CPR.

She pinched his nose, gave two breaths then 15 pushes to his chest. Nothing. "Come on Derek" she breathed, giving him another two breaths and more pushes to his chest, she kept going.

"Got it!" she heard from somewhere in the room. Her vision was going hazy, her arms were getting tired, she was fit but he was big, each chest compression required a lot of strength and each breath that he needed required more air than she had in her lungs.

"Please don't die." She begged, bringing her mouth to his again but jerking back when she felt the tip of his investigative tongue move up and brush the roof of her mouth. His eyes had popped open, he sat up so fast he was practically a blur.

She tried to stand, but something was off. The adrenaline from a few moments ago was wearing away, she noticed a fresh pain on the back of her head.

'Ow…' she winced. Reaching her hand behind her head, she felt something wet. She didn't need to see her hand to know what it was.

A scream above her made Maddy look up. She saw three hunched backs. Suddenly the bare one, the one that belonged to Derek, fell over and started writhing on the floor.

Her thoughts were becoming fuzzy, as she imagined she heard an animalistic growl from where he'd fallen.

Eventually he stood up.

'Where'd the blood go?' she squinted at the miraculously healed man, but it was getting harder and harder to see straight.

The three boys started talking, but she couldn't quite hear them. They sounded so far away, like their voices were on another planet and taking a long time to get to her. Pressing her palm against the cold floor, Maddy realized that had laid herself down and that she was resting her head on one of her arms. 'This feels nice.'

Her eyelids were getting heavy.

"What about…"

"Oh crap!"

"Hey!" someone was shaking her shoulders, but she didn't want to open her eyes just yet.

'Not when I'm so comfy.'

"Wake up" the hands gripping her shoulders tightened, she felt something sharp prod her back.

"Ah!" she tore open her eyes, her vision was swimming.

She could see Derek's head floating above her. The other two were higher up, and staring down at her as well.

Maddy vision went in and out focus, which was really annoying especially while she was trying to count the green flecks in Derek eyes.

"What's wrong with you girlfriend?" the anxious boy asked.

"I don't know." Derek replied, his worried eyes scanning her face, before she saw black again "Hey! Ah...You!" he was shaking her awake once more "You stay awake!"

"You don't know her name?" the nervous boy scrutinized.

She watched utterly entertained as man above her snarled at the boy standing over his shoulder.

"You snarled…" she commented giddily, with a droopy smile. Though the concern never left his face, the dark haired man gave her a strange look.

"Um, you guys…" Scott spoke. It looked like his brown eyes might have been directed to the space above her head "I think she's bleeding."

"That's what I to meant say…" Maddy managed before slipping off into darkness.

* * *

For the second time that day Maddy felt like she was confused about where she was waking up. But she was also confused about why. 'Why for the second time?' eyes still closed, she tried to recall what had happened that morning 'This morning…', but it was foggy. 'I just got out of bed, didn't I?' She tried to make herself believe it, but she couldn't for some reason.

She could hear beeping and the sound of an angry voice "Listen, I don't care what your visiting hours are. That girl in there is my responsibility, so you can be damn sure I'm not leaving her side."

"Uncle Chris?" Maddy croaked against the dryness of her throat.

"Madelyn, honey?" she heard excited footsteps nearing her, cracking her light brown eyes open she could see her Uncle's grey-haired head looming above her, she felt his hand wrap around her limp one.

"What happened?" She coughed, squinting against the soft lamp light in the room. She made to sit up, but her Uncle stopped her movements. Sitting down beside her, he clicked something that caused the bed to move so that she was sitting up. Recognizing her setting she asked "Why am I in the hospital?"

"You hit your head sweetheart."

"My head?" Maddy raised her hand to check the back of her head. She couldn't feel anything but a small bump.

"There's no bleeding, either external or internal. Thank god." He sighed a breath of relief.

Despite her situation, she had to smile. She was so glad that she had made sure to put him down as her emergency contact, otherwise who knows what hell the office administration would have been going through. He probably would have torn the place apart to see her.

While Chris Argent wasn't a blood relative he was part of the only family she had ever known. Though people like Kate Argent had gone to great lengths to point out that she didn't belong to a family, while others like Victoria Argent were nice but continued to look at her as an outsider.

But Maddy didn't mind, Chris had been her father's best friend. He was her real Uncle and Allie was her real cousin as far Maddy would ever be concerned.

"Maddy, do you remember anything about what happened to you?" He asked gently, giving her hand an encouraging squeeze.

"No." She frowned "Why? Didn't I just fall over or something?"

A sad expression came over her Uncle's face "We don't know. Someone called about a car on the side of the road, when the police came they found you inside. There was some damage to the car, but it would have been enough to knock you out... not like that. Do you know if you've had any attacks lately?"

She chewed on her lips, it had been year since she had gone through a panic attack. Maddy used to get them when she was younger, and then again when her dad had died, she still had some tough spells like on her first day at the hospital but other than that nothing major. She had been coping pretty well for a while now "No, I don't think so."

Trying to wrap her head around what he had said had happened, Maddy could only ask "Where would have been going?"

"You don't remember?" his brows knit together in question.

She went to shake her head, but stopped when she felt some dizziness run through her "I don't even remember leaving the house today."

"You were meant to have dinner at our house tonight." The stated, watching her closely for a reaction.

"I was?" Maddy swallowed thickly.

'How far back have I lost?' Her mind raced back, desperately trying to remember anything she could about her day.

"Yes, but you didn't show up. We tried calling but there was no answer."

Blinking a few times, she took in a deep breath, looking away as she asked "Was… was there anything else that happened to…"

"Oh honey" her Uncle cupped her cheek, sympathy clear in his voice, as he moved in order to give her a hug "Nothing else happened."

Biting her lips, she nodded into his shoulder, hugging him back tightly. She could feel tears beginning to prick her eyes.

'Unbalanced emotions… side effect of a concussion…' she tried to brush it off. But in truth she felt so exposed and vulnerable. Not only had she lost time, but she had no idea how or why.

'Uh, oh. Another side effect coming up…' she pushed her Uncle away as a wave nausea hit her, ballooning her cheeks she tried to climb out bed, but her legs wobbled under her.

Her Uncle grabbed her and helped to the bathroom, he turned on the light, held back her hair and rubbed her back as she vomited into the toilet bowl.

"You ok sweetheart?"

"I- I think so." She rested her head against the wall next the toilet bowl. Her Uncle still holding up her hair in case, his hand still soothing her back. "I think I'm ok now." She breathed easier, turning head to her Chris' blue concerned eyes sombrely looking at the back of her head… or was it lower?

But before she could really register it, he had warm smile on his face "Let's get you back into bed then."

She nodded wearily, too drained right now to worry about what saw or didn't see.

* * *

**Hope you like it. Not sure when the next post will be but I'll try to be good about.**

**Again sorry about editing.**

**Please let me know what you think.**


	3. Chapter 3: Resume

**Thanks so much for the support! It's really awesome to see. Hopefully I can keep you guys interested. Another short one. Editing… ugh. **

Chapter Three – Resume

"… kid keep hanging in

Something's gotta give,

It has to if you keep on trying,

I'm trying, I'm trying, I'm trying…"

– Val Emmich

* * *

When Maddy woke up the next morning, she thought it might all have been a dream. That was until she opened her eyes and took in her unfamiliar setting which proved her wrong.

The whole town had been in an uproar, apparently there had been brutal attack last night at a local video store. When she had seen the news on the TV in her hospital room Maddy hadn't expected her relatively cool case to take priority over the grizzly animal attack. But a sleep deprived looking Sheriff Stilinski had arrived mid-morning to question her about what could have happened to her.

But it had been a frustrating experience, no matter how hard she tried all Maddy could remember was walking back to her car after sweeping up the ballet studio. She had no clue what she had been up to since then.

'Aside from sitting a hospital bed, completely freaking out.'

Her Uncle had dropped her off at her apartment that afternoon, he had tried to persuade her to stay at his house for a couple days, but Maddy had refused.

She just wanted to figure this... whatever 'this' was, out herself and see if she could jog her memory by being around her own things. She had gotten a few days off work to do it, but she wanted answers as soon as she could have them.

He had managed to convince her to come over for dinner the next night. It was Allie's 17th birthday today, but they couldn't do anything special tonight because of a parent-teacher conference. She could tell he was simply trying to find a way to keep a close eye on her, and she was grateful for it.

Though Maddy had said she would be okay to make it into her apartment without any help, she found herself leaving Allie a 'Happy Birthday' voicemail so she could stall for a while in the hall just outside her door. She wasn't sure what to expect as she finished her phone call and entered her apartment.

Nothing looked out of the ordinary, but as she ventured further she became increasingly confused.

There was a bowl of water on the carpet by the couch with a dried up facecloth next to it. Her heartbeat began to race, her breathing became shallow.

'Could someone have broken in?' Uncle Chris' lessons on how to deal with burglars and potential attackers played through her mind as she calmed her breathing and crept as quietly as she could through her living room, bedroom and bathroom, making sure they were empty before checking the locks on both the front and sliding doors.

Biting her lips she turned away from her balcony to face her tiny living room 'maybe I put them there?' she posited uncertainly, eying the objects sitting by the couch. 'But why?'

Nearing the bowl of water, she saw that there was something dark brownish-red trapped under it. Surprise filled her when she lifted the bowl to her mother's handkerchief, completely ruined and stained with blood.

'Maybe I hurt my head here?' she wondered if she might have tried to clean herself up before heading out, but she remained frowning as she observed that there wasn't any blood on the couch's fabric, or the dried up face cloth. It also didn't fit because there was on laceration on her head anyway.

"Ugh!" This was beyond confusing.

Picking up the face cloth and giving it a sniff, she could smell something earthy, it made her think of the woods. Confused more than she had ever thought possible, Maddy tried to theorize some more. So far all that she had arrived at was the feeling that making her way to the bathroom for shower was probably a good plan. Especially after spending a night in a hospital bed, throwing up and generally needing to clear her head.

As she cleaned herself and gently massaged shampoo into her hair, she noticed a slight pain in her left arm when she raised it above her head... it felt like a bruise, though when she checked over her arm she couldn't see any discoloured skin.

Looking down she saw some red trickling down between her legs, assuming it was her period since it was due any day, she carried on cleaning herself.

But when she got out of the tub, there was no evidence of any more bleeding on her legs. Scrutinizing her naked reflection in the bathroom mirror, it occurred to Maddy that the blood must have come from her hair. There had been no trace of an open wound, a bit of dried blood could easily have gotten lost in her long, dark hair.

'What is going on with me?' she asked her reflection worriedly.

She had been staring at herself long enough for her hair to start curling slightly as it dried. As her light brown eyes fell to look at the mirrored image of the damp ends she was filled with an inexplicable urge. Suddenly she scrunched up the bottom of her hair so it was a tangled mess of knots and frizz, that was pulled over her right shoulder.

Looking at herself again, Maddy had no idea what to think. 'Why would I do that?' her eyes fell closed, she attempted to push through the darkness of the day before. Rubbing the back of her neck to relieve some tension, her eyes snapped open.

"What were you looking at?" she asked, remembering how her Uncle Chris had stared at her back the night before.

Finding a hand mirror, she bunched her messy hair further to one side, pulling it away from her neck. Leaning in close to the bathroom mirror, she held the hand mirror up to the back of her neck.

'There's nothing there.'

She huffed, about to put the mirror down when something caught her eye. 'What is that?' she leaned in further, raising her free hand to touch the nearly invisible marks just over where her spine sat.

Practically climbing on to her sink she tried getting a better look, but she couldn't make out much more about them.

She abandoned the mirrors and grabbed her phone to take a picture instead.

Zooming all the way in she could discern that there were four marks, so shallow and thin she doubted whether she would have noticed them at all if it wasn't for her Uncle's staring.

Examining the half-moon shapes she reflected 'they look almost like...'

Lifting her fingers to the marks pictured on her phone's screen and bending her knuckles so that her fingernails scraped the screen, Maddy saw her suspicions confirmed.

What was disturbing her more than anything else was that the scars were far too wide to be human fingernails, Maddy whispered out in disbelief, naming the only thing she could think of that would have resulted in these sorts of lines ... "claws."

* * *

Maddy had tried sleeping but she couldn't. She kept tossing and turning. Her fingers kept tracing over the lines etched into her neck.

By the time Allie called her, it was 5:00 and all Maddy had managed to do was tangle up her sheets and grow even more restless.

"You did what?" She gaped at her cousin's behaviour.

"I skipped school."

Still recovering from the initial surprise, Maddy asked the younger girl to clarify again "You, Allison Argent, skipped school?"

"I just told you my dad shot and killed a mountain lion in the school parking lot, in front of a crowd of people and my skipping school is what you're stuck on?"

"Ah, yeah." Maddy stated, as though it were obvious which piece news would be most shocking. She pursed her lips, going on to allow "I guess if you did skip then there must have been a good reason..."

"There was."

A stab of guilt ran through Maddy, as she heard the sombre inflection in Allison's voice "It wasn't because of what happened to me, was it?"

"Kind of, but it was more about why wanted to see you, my Aunt and dad have been acting..."

"ALLISON!" even from a distance, the unmistakable sound of Victoria Argent's voice blared over the receiver "YOU BETTER NOT BE USING YOUR PHONE!"

"Crap, gotta go."

"We'll talk tomorrow night. Okay?"

"Okay. Take care."

"Don't worry about me, Allie. You just take care of yourself."

Hanging up the phone, Maddy sat at the edge of her bed, her hand unconsciously running over her the claw marks on neck again.

'Mountain lion...' it may have been a long-shot but she just needed something to go on. She searched online for the nearest animal specialist and found Beacon Hills Animal Centre. Her car was still at the local impound lot and she wasn't meant to be driving in any case, but it could still work out, by bus the place was only 20 minutes away and the office was open for another half hour. She could make it.

* * *

It was 6:10, she was ten minutes late but Maddy still walked towards the parking lot of the Animal Centre. Her pace was slow though, she was filled with apprehension. An odd feeling had come over her, like something was pulling her towards the building... like déjà vu.

Maddy shook her head, seeing if anything more than a feeling would come forward. But nothing did.

The closed sign was flipped on the door, but the lights were still on inside. Rapping on the glass door, Maddy called "Hello? Dr. Deaton?" she used the name she had seen listed on the website.

A few seconds passed, before a dark-skinned man, made his way out of a back room and towards the front door.

Opening the door he wearily stated "We're closed."

Maddy stuck her hand out to stop him from closing the door, "Please it'll only take a second. I think... I think I might have been attacked by an animal."

His interest seemed pique for a moment, before he returned to a dismissive tone "Then call animal control."

"I would, but I have no clue what it could have been, I just have these marks and I was hoping you could tell what left them."

"I…"

"Please. It's driving me crazy."

Sighing a tired breath he held the door open, allowing her into the reception area of the practice.

"Where are they?"

"The back of my neck."

"Your neck?" Something that looked like recognition flashed across his face.

"Is that normal for animal attacks?"

"Depends on what the animal is… let me have a look." Maddy turned her back to the vet, exposing her neck to him.

"Hmm…" he brushed at her skin. Maddy could see his reflection in the darkened window of the office. "I don't see anything."

He was lying. She knew it, he was using the same tone of voice doctors used when they told patients not to worry, that they simply needed to run more tests. The intense look on his face reflected in the glass only confirmed it for Maddy.

"What do you mean?" she challenged "They're really faint but they're there."

"I'm sorry but there's nothing there, besides…" he dropped his hands, freeing her to turn to face him "if an animal had attacked you any wounds you would have gotten would not disappear so soon."

"But they haven't disappeared. They're here" she rubbed the slightly dipped skin where the marks were "Look you can feel them" she made to reach of the man's hand, but he backed away.

Something seared through her mind when he had made that action… someone drawing away from her.

Shaking her head she blinked the strange sensation away.

"Are you all right?" The vet asked.

"Ah, yeah… I just hit my head yesterday. I'm having trouble remembering a lot of what I did since then."

He nodded slowly "That makes sense…"

"Beg your pardon?" she raised an eyebrow at him in question.

"Sometimes when things get scrambled up it's hard to get them straight again. We see things when they aren't there to find some way to make everything ok again." He spun another lie, smoothly trying to convince her that she had made a mistake about the scratches.

'You let everyone walk all over you Madelyn and, trust me, they'll keep on doing it…' Maddy heard her father speak in her head again. Pushing her to stand her ground. She righted her posture and planted her feet.

"But I'm not seeing things." She said firmly.

Looking at her with pity, Dr. Deaton reasserted "I'm afraid that you are."

"I'm afraid you're a liar." She retorted with uncharacteristic hotheadedness. Immediately after she had said it she felt her anxiety start wriggling its way back into her mind.

He stared at her for long while, before speaking calmly "I'm going to have to ask you to leave now."

Trying to backpedal, Maddy's voice softened and her eyes lowered "Listen, I'm sorry being rude. It's been a rough day. If there's anything you know, if you could just help me…"

"I really can't help you."

Biting her lip, she nodded her head with a breathy exhale. "I appreciate your time anyway."

Once he had closed the door behind her, Maddy had rolled her shoulders and stared up at the starry sky. Closing her light eyes she tried to remember why this place had felt so familiar, but a strange pricking buzz on her neck made her hair stand on end, distracting her.

Opening her eyes she turned around to check if Dr. Deaton had still been watching her. But the offices were completely dark now. She was positive though that she had felt eyes on her.

It should have been frightening... 'right?' she asked herself, as she stepped away from the front door and craned her head back. Her light brown eyes skimmed over the rooftop edges of the building.

Again she winced as the action caused a familiar sense to course through her. Blinking her eyes open it took her a moment to sort out that it was a new, smooth building before her and not a dilapidated brick one.

'I need to sleep…' she decided, as she left the parking lot for home.

* * *

However, sleep was not so easy to come by…

Her eyes were closed, but she wasn't asleep… she had to be dreaming.

'I have to be dreaming…' she gasped.

Images burned into her eyes. A man with a scorched face, a wolf's body torn in half, the lonely smell of cinders in an empty house, blackened veins, and sharp claws, digging claws, claws, claws, CLAWS!

"AHHH!" Maddy shot up, her chest heaving, her sheets drenched in sweat. Her fearful gaze traversed the room, her alarm clock said 1 p.m.

She had been dreaming for the past sixteen hours and she had never felt more exhausted or more restless in her life.

Rolling over onto her stomach she buried her nose against her pillow trying to get the char tinged smell of the woods out of her mind.

* * *

**Please let me know what you think. Sorry if the writing doesn't flow very well, hopefully I'll get better :) **


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